Crab-Plover 375 



extremity , of South America, attains a length of fifteen inches, and, as stated above, 

 is snowy white throughout, with the bill and feet black or bluish dusky and the 

 base of the mandibles yellowish. In 1904 an additional species (C. nasicornis) 

 was described by Reichenow from Heard Island. In the second genus (Chi- 

 onarchus) the face is bare in front but not below the eye and the caruncles are 

 absent from the base of the bill. Of the two species in this genus we possess the 

 most information concerning the Lesser Sheath-bill (C. minor) of Kerguelen 

 Island and the Marion and Prince Edward islands. Although called the lesser 

 it is really larger than the first-mentioned species, being fifteen and one half 

 inches long; the bill is black and the feet flesh-tinted, the plumage being uni- 

 formly pure white, and very soft and downy. When Kerguelen Island was 

 visited by the Transit of Venus parties in 1874-1875, the Sheath-bill, or "White 

 Paddy" of the whalers, was found to be abundant and so perfectly fearless as 

 to be often taken in the hands. "It bears," says Dr. Kidder, "a strong resem- 

 blance to the Pigeons in form and mode of flight; it is easily domesticated, re- 

 markably fearless of man, dislikes water, cannot swim, is largely a vegetable 

 feeder, and its usual note is a harsh croak." On one occasion he observed a 

 number on the rocks and walked toward them. "They would scarcely get out 

 of my way, seeming greatly interested in my movements, and when I sat on a 

 stone, keeping perfectly still, the whole party, twelve in all, came up to examine 

 the intruder. They walked all around me, coming almost within reach; others 

 flying up from more distant rocks to join them, and finally stopping, almost in a 

 semicircle, for a good stare." Their food he found to consist very largely of 

 soft green seaweeds, which they stripped up with their bills, with occasional 

 mussels and crustaceans; they also greedily devoured the eggs of various birds. 

 Their own eggs, one to three in number, were placed in a carefully concealed 

 nest of grasses in holes among or behind rocks. The remaining species (C. 

 crozettensis) from the Crozette Islands is similar but smaller, with a smaller 

 bill and darker feet. 



THE CRAB-PLOVERS 



(Family Dromadida) 



The monotypic Crab-Plover (Dramas ardeola),so called from its feeding chiefly 

 on crabs, is a very peculiar and quite Tern-like bird about sixteen inches long, 

 with a strong, compressed, ungrooved bill which is longer than the head and has 

 the oval nostrils at its base. The wings are long and pointed and the tail nearly 

 even, while the tarsi are long and the toes long and much webbed, the middle 

 claw being dilated on the inner side and more or less notched. With the excep- 

 tion of the upper back, the long, interscapular plumes and greater coverts, as 

 well as portions of the webs of the quills which are black, the entire plumage is 

 white. The Crab-Plover inhabits the coasts of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, 

 frequenting seashores or margins of salt lakes, and usually going about in 



